1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a battery-operated child's riding toy capable of being driven both in the forward and reverse directions and to a floorboard structure that can be easily assembled to the frame of the toy to support motor control switches. In particular, the invention relates to a circuit to connect different voltages to a drive motor circuit when the toy is to be driven forward, thereby making it possible to drive the toy forward at different speeds. The circuit also limits reverse operation to a low speed and includes a dynamic braking load to be automatically connected across the drive motor circuit, when the circuit is in forward drive condition, unless the resilient bias in a spring-loaded switch is deliberately overcome to connect the drive motor circuit to the battery power supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,263 issued to Timothy S. Harris and Lawrence R. Harrod, and entitled ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE TOY WITH DYNAMIC BRAKING describes one of many types of battery-powered toy vehicles suitable for operation by small children. That toy vehicle resembles a full-sized gasoline powered tricycle and has small battery-powered motors connected to the two rear wheels. The battery power supply has two batteries and a double-pole-double-throw switch to connect them either in parallel to the motors, for low speed operation, or in series, for high speed operation. The circuit from the battery power supply to the motors includes a spring-biased safety switch that is normally open to cut-off battery current unless the child operating the toy vehicle maintains pressure sufficient to overcome the spring bias of the switch. A dynamic braking arrangement on the vehicle includes a lever to be operated by the child, who applies pressure to the lever by the same foot that must be applied to the spring-biased switch to maintain operating current to the motors. The lever is connected to another double-pole-double-throw switch that connects the motors either to the battery power supply (via the safety switch) or to a dynamic braking load that dissipates power generated by the motors when they are being driven by the wheels rather than vice versa. In order to actuate the brake lever, the child operator must release pressure on the spring-biased switch thereby opening the circuit that transmits current to the motors.
However, the switch that transfers the motors from connection to the battery power supply to the dynamic load does not make that transfer automatically by spring-biased operation and could not do so, because the same foot that the child operator uses to depress the spring-biased safety switch is also the foot used, alternatively, to depress the brake lever. Also, the toy vehicle of the aforesaid Harris-Harrod patent application does not have a switch to reverse current to the motors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,517 issued Feb. 2, 1982 to Pivar, discloses a small battery-powered vehicle, although it is not a toy. The circuit includes a reversing switch to reverse current to the motor to cause the vehicle to back up, and it also includes two batteries with switching relays to connect the drive motor to one or both of them, but it does not include a connection from the battery power supply to the reversing switch that is separate for reverse operation than for forward operation. As a result, the vehicle can operate just as fast in reverse as in the forward direction.